Mahaffey Named New Volleyball Coach

Dec 02, 2010

BUENA VISTA, Va. - Acting Athletics Director, Deidra Dryden, has announced the hiring of Michelle Mahaffey as the new Southern Virginia University volleyball coach. Mahaffey will replace Ricky Messman at the helm of the program.

"First, I want to take the time to thank Ricky for all of his hard work," said Dryden. "He stepped in at the eleventh hour when we needed someone for the position. He did a great job, and had to lead this program while balancing work in his senior year, here at SVU. I know it wasn't easy at times, especially seeing as this was his first head coaching job at the collegiate level, but I'm very pleased with his efforts, and with what he gave to the program. We'll always be grateful for Ricky's accomplishments here."

Mahaffey is no stranger to the program, as she was an assistant coach for the Knights from 2007 season to the 2009 campaign. She took this last year off to focus on her family. Mahaffey helped the Knights to three successful years, as the team recorded 31-wins in 2007, and rebounded from a 6-win season the year previous. With Mahaffey's guidance the team made three straight trips to the USCAA National Tournament, and took three consecutive third-place finishes.

"When we looked at who could build off of what Coach Pendleton and Coach Messman had accomplished, we just felt that Michelle had had a great working relationship with the players here, and would know how to get them to improve on those third place spots," said Dryden. "With her collegiate playing experience, and her knowledge of SVU sports, and what makes us unique, I'm sure she'll find great players for the program, and will make us a regionally recognized program in the future."

Mahaffey was a four-year player for Brigham Young University volleyball team from 1999-2002, and helped the Cougars to three NCAA Tournament appearances. While with the team, Mahaffey helped the Cougars take the first ever Mountain West conference Championship in volleyball. In 2002, she was named a Academic All-MWC team member.

Mahaffey is married to her husband Chad, who is the head athletic trainer at SVU as well as the head lacrosse coach. The couple lives in Buena Vista, and they have three children, Landon, 6, Sydney, 4, and Keely, 1.